I have had a colony of bees in the trunk of a tree in my front yard for a couple of years now. When we first discovered them, we made an attempt to remove them, but had no luck. The hive swarmed shortly after they arrived and they separated. We saw the ball up in the tree the day they were swarming, but they were too high to get to and trap. It hailed that night and knocked half the bees to the ground, but not the queen, so once it warmed up outside they took off. We have left the bees alone for the most part since then. Hoping that we can catch another swarm, but haven't seen them swarm again. They are very docile and allow use to approach the hive without any confrontation. The only stings have come during the initial swarm I just mentioned. But, we have children walking by the house daily since we live by a school and would hate for there to be an incident occur. So we want to get them out, but don't want to kill them.

My grandfather raised honeybees for quite some time, so my Dad knows a great deal about raising them as well. We just need a way to get the queen out of the tree without cutting it down. I read up a bit about the Trap-Out method that was posted here. Would that be the best route for us to go?

Short of cutting the tree, it is the only way to go. Re-read the trap out procedures and pm me if you want to talk about it. Do you know a beekeeper you can get a frame of brood from? A trap out won't work without one.

PS. Put your location in your profile. Beekeeping is different in different climates. We can't always give you the best advice if we don't know where you are.

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"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"